Sweet and spicy… bacon?

My former roommate and I used to cook a lot together (and a lot of pretty yummy food at that). Ever since we moved out though, we haven’t been able to cook together. However, we were able to change that with some pretty awesome food. Enter: Millionaire’s bacon.

This luxury is quite simple to make and is an amazing appetizer. You start with some thick-cut bacon, rub it with a mixture of brown sugar and spices, and throw it in the oven. Adjust the spices depending on how much sweet and spice you like ;).

---

Ingredients:
1 pound thick-cut bacon
3 stalks asparagus
5 tbl brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper

---

Before you start, pre-heat the oven to 350ºF. While the oven is warming up, mix together the brown sugar, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.

Then rub the bacon and asparagus with the sweet and spicy mix. Lay out the bacon and bake for about 20 minutes (the asparagus only needs to be baked for 5-10 minutes). Voila!

D-Pain OUT

‘Cause I Watch Shark Week

Last summer my boyfriend and his friends attempted hiking/camping through the Appalachians for a week, and due to unforeseen circumstances (okay, really they probably could have planned for them) they were not able to complete the trek and ended up at my apartment one night. Letting them stay the night (since there was a bet going on to see how many nights they would actually be gone), I let them freshen up with warm running water and good old electricity. And since I was pretty sure they were tired of eating energy bars or jerky or whatever dried non-perishable, high calorie/energy foods, I took them to a local taco joint. Even though it is no longer in town, I swear they had the largest portion of nachos for about five bucks (USD). Regardless everyone was happy, and I figured they were ready to wind down from the days hiking plus the drive time from the Appalachians to Gainesville. While pumping gas, lo and behold – a redbox – and that’s how we ended up with Springbreakers; the movie starring James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, and other people. I’m not going to talk too much about it, but before watching that movie…we found ourselves watching Sharknado first. SPOILER ALERT!!

For some strange reason, Sharknado has left a soft spot in all of our hearts. Whether it be Tara Reid, the concept of a “sharknado,” or the fact that in that world, chainsaws rule – my group of friends and I cannot seem to stop talking about it. It seems to me that all of my favorite parts of the movies involve a chainsaw and Fin pulling out a body/body part out of a live shark. I call dibs that the next movie takes place in a honeymoon venue – Hawaii or Florida anyone?? Anyway, thank you Syfy channel for creating this now trilogy because it brings all of us together at least once a year!! In honor of this great trilogy and the beginning of shark week I carved this watermelon for our party.

Watermelon Shark

1. Place watermelon on flat surface (set it on the side it naturally sits on during growth). I used two knives to create my shark – a paring knife and larger knife to make slices.

2. On the opposite end of the watermelon – the end where there is no vine stump, slice the melon at a 35-45 degree angle about an inch from the edge to create the bottom of the shark. This should expose the red flesh of the melon.

3. Setting the melon on the newly exposed side, on the opposite end of the melon cut a “pie slice” shape creating a gaping mouth. Depending on the size of the melon you want to cut it a little smaller than you want it because you will later add teeth. I did mine about two inches at the apex.

4. Remove the piece you sliced and from the edges of the mouth, use the paring knife to create an outer lip about 1 – 1.5 inches. Make sure not to cut all the way through. Use the paring knife to expose the white flesh only.

5. Remove the rest of the red flesh of the watermelon from the inside. Note: you will be putting it back into the shark afterwards. I used a melon baller.

6.Now that the you have an empty watermelon rind, you can cut little triangles into the white exposed flesh (near the mouth) to create teeth. You want to give the teeth varying sizes from the back to the front of the mouth.

7. The shark is essentially complete at this point, but some people like to add a dorsal fin. Using the pie slice from earlier, cut it in half with a curved edge to fit the shape of the watermelon, and use toothpicks to attach it to the back of the shark.

8. I also added eyes using a paring knife to mark spots for grapes/blueberries as eyes (attached with half toothpicks). Lastly since I had grapes still – my mom thought of the idea of using the grapes as decorative kelp or coral that surrounds the sharks body on the tray. Don’t forget to fill him back up with the watermelon pieces and other fruit!

Tip! You should refrigerate the watermelon pieces separately from the rind for ease of travel and storage. Watermelon tastes sweeter to me when cold 🙂

And since man cannot live on watermelon alone, I also made a variation of Paula Deen’s creamy crock pot macaroni and cheese that does not use a crock pot. This truly is super creamy, cheesy, and my lactose intolerant friend ate it anyway and lived.

Macaroni and Cheese

• 1 box of rotini (pasta)
• Water for cooking pasta
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 can condensed cheese soup
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder

1. Cook pasta in boiling water or according to box directions until al dente. I cooked mine for about 7 minutes.

2. Remove pasta to a colander and return empty pot to stove on medium heat. Melt the butter and cheese in the pot and then add the rest of the ingredients (except the pasta) and stir well.

3. Add pasta into the pot and toss well. Cover with lid and keep on lowest setting for one and half to two hours stirring occasionally.

It’s best served when hot!!

See you all in 2015 for the next addition to the trilogy/ten year reunion of us meeting for the first time!!

❤ The Food Scientist

Back to December

Last December seems so long ago. Last December I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Food Science and Human Nutrition. Last December was filled with the archetypal milestones of a college kid. Last December I had no idea what was next. Last December a local dim sum restaurant opened. Last December I ate turnip cake.

Just the Beginning

The day before my graduation, my HD planned a lunch with me at the new dim sum place. I’m not sure if anyone had been there yet, but rumor had it that it got packed pretty fast, had a small parking lot, and had customer’s cars towed when parked next door. So many logistics went into one lunch. The majority of them lived on my side of town and we planned to drive together, and the other one who lives closer to the restaurant was going to get there early to grab a table. Now this restaurant typically has a line at the door even before it opens, and dim sum is only served at lunch time.

Let me explain something first – dim sum is a Cantonese Chinese term used to describe bite-sized portions of different foods carried in small steamers and pushed around a cart.

In the Middle of the Street

But of course knowing the Etas, silly things were bound to happen. One of them (who didn’t drive a car) would always wait 5 minutes before the meet up time to ask someone (who would already be there) to pick her up. One didn’t wake up to her alarm and had to meet us there. The girl who went to save a table, grabbed the family style table at open, sat there by herself for a good 30 minutes while other families would glare and give her dirty looks for saving it. The rumors weren’t rumors – it was teeming!! Where were the rest of us? Looking for parking. Lo and behold the tiny parking lot was full and we parked across the street. Selfie while crossing the street!

Quickly we all took a seat while calming down the slightly panicked one and then the carts came. Grabbing dishes and dishes of char siu bao (pork stuffed buns), ha gao (shrimp dumplings), phoenix claws, shaomai, and spareribs, we feasted. One of them goes, is that a peanut in the fried rice? It was a peanut, and her lip swole. Then all of a sudden, this small plate with three speckled white squares with a golden brown coating lands on our table. “Turnip cake!” someone said.

I split mine with the girl next to me, and I wished I hadn’t.

Daikon, not Chinese Radish

Turnip Cake

• 2 ½ pounds shredded daikon
• water (enough to cover daikon in pot)
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp dried shrimp
• 3 whole shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tsp garlic
• 4 oz. ground turkey (traditionally Chinese sausage is used)
• 1 tbsp white pepper
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 ¼ cups rice flour

1. Place the dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms in a bowl of water to rehydrate for at least 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile peel the daikon and use a food processor, mandolin, or (as I did) a grater to shred the daikon into matchsticks.
3. Put the daikon in a large pot and fill with enough water to submerge the daikon. Heat the pot to medium to high heat for 15 minutes – daikon should soften.
4. As the daikon cooks, remove the shrimp and shiitake mushroom from the water. Remove the stems of the mushrooms and mince the caps and shrimps together.
5. Saute the garlic, ground turkey, minced shiitake, and shrimp together in a large pan with a splash of oil until the turkey is cooked (or Chinese sausage). Add the white pepper and soy sauce into the pan.
6. Drain the daikon and reserve at least 1 cup of the water. Place the daikon and cooked mixture in a separate bowl. Add rice flour and stir – you can add water if a paste does not begin to form. The mixture should be thick and is ready when it no longer falls off the spoon.
   

   Bain-marie

7. Fill a 9 inch loaf pan with this mixture and place in a bain-marie for 45 minutes. Bain-marie = place loaf pan in a pot larger and fill large pot with water 1 inch high. Heat to medium heat.
8. Once turnip cake is done, remove from bain-marie and cool to room temperature.
9. At this point, you can eat the turnip cake, but a lot of people refrigerate it overnight and pan fry ½ inch slices the next day.

The Food Scientist ❤ HD

At graduation

A-Vada Kedavra

A couple of nights ago, sitting at our dining table/laptop desk/circuit shop (like woodshop but with circuitry), I was telling μChip that I was beginning to think our random ingredient generator idea was becoming stale because it seemed to be generating the same ingredients every other week. I mean given that it probably works based off some algorithm there is a high probability that was bound to happen sooner or later. So I said to her (jokingly), “I think I’ll google random country generator (hoping that it wouldn’t result in one of those make-up-your-country’s-name generators, rather one that came up with real countries) and cook something from their culture.” I was looking for new foods to taste and new methods to learn. Without questioning me, we both googled “random country generator” and tried our luck at the first hit.

Interesting, right? I didn’t even know #3 was a country (on its own), and #2 seemed like the easy default in case nothing else worked out. Easy way or the high way? I took the high way, and as a result I chose Suriname. Looking up recipes I found out Suriname is kind of a melting pot just like America – a variety of Asian, European, and African influences. Staying away from desserts (since I dig the umami :P) I came across this Surinamese snack called “bara” which reminded me of one of my boyfriend’s favorite food by description. Huh, I thought. Due to much Indian influence, it turns out they are the same exact thing as my boyfriend’s favorite food, “vada.”

Flashback! So my brother used to work as a body removal specialist for part of the Southeast United States. Basically he would remove dead bodies from crime scenes, suicides, or less exciting nursing homes (he worked for a funeral home). And I used to work in a gross (meaning macroscopic body parts) pathology lab where excised tissue would be analyzed, and my sister, well she thought that maybe she, too, should work in something death related (soon to study nursing) so we could all cross paths. I suppose this seemed kind of eerie or creepy if our parents were to ever discuss with other people what their children were doing. Through my brother I learned that my favorite flower, lilies, are the most commonly associated flower with funeral services. While jokingly teasing at my boyfriend to take me to funeral homes to see them, he mentioned that he, too, would sort of enjoy it because his favorite food is only served at “death celebrations”. What a match! 🙂

Vada in short are savoury lentil doughnuts and can be for breakfast, a snack, or part of another meal. In southern India, at least in his region, they are doughnut shaped with a hole in the middle; while in other areas they are just round saucer shaped. He likes to eat his with green and coconut chutneys, but he’s not here, so I only made coconut 😛

Let me make a disclaimer: This is the first time I have ever made an authentic Indian food, ever. Some people think I make/eat Indian food all the time – I eat it when I get the chance, but that’s about it. One time I made butter chicken in a crock pot, but my boyfriend says that doesn’t count because butter chicken is essentially American. Oh. Lol.

Vada

• 1 cup urad dal (split and skinned black gram lentil)
• Water
• salt
• oil for frying

These following items I added for flavor, but the first three ingredients are the main components technically.

• ½ bird’s eye chili (chopped) – (more for more heat!)
• 1 small diced onion
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• 3 tbsp cilantro (roughly chopped) – I ❤ cilantro
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp coriander (dried)
• a pinch of asafetida (hing)

Method

1. Soak urad dal for at least 3-5 hours or overnight. Drain the dal but reserve the water in another bowl.
2. Place the dal in a food processor (though other recipes recommend a wet grinder) to form a thick paste. You can add a few tablespoons of water – one at at time – to help form the paste. CAUTION: You do not want this to be thin and runny. Minimal water is best 🙂
3. Once paste is formed, empty paste into a bowl and add your mixins for flavoring, or just the salt to taste.

Shaping – This is supposed to be the most difficult part of the recipe, but I found making the paste the hardest. This was my favorite part!! (next to eating)

1. Wet your left palm (if you are right-handed) to leave a thin film of water on it, and place a tbsp. of the thick batter on your palm.
2. Using your other hand, wet one finger to form a hole in the middle of the dollop to form the doughnut shape.
3. Use your wet fingertips or a butter knife to slip the newly formed vada into hot oil. CAUTION: the oil may splash due to its reaction with the water.

Note: Some sources recommend using parchment paper or plastic wrap with a thin film of water to start.

Frying

1. Heat up oil in a small pot to medium heat. Drop vada into the hot oil and fry until golden brown.

Eating – Piping hot vada with coconut chutney? I think yes!!

❤ The Food Scientist

Jiaozi From Another Mother

This week’s ingredient roulette: peppers, cheese, turkey, and mushroom! Luckily for me, I had bought ground turkey on BOGO (buy one get one) last week…which is the same instance that I bought too much meat, and ended up making this: surf ‘n’ turf pizza. It’s not really too post worthy since I didn’t make the crust, but I did make the sauce and seared my own steak (brownie points, right?) 😀

I wasn’t really craving anything, but I needed to use at least one package of the ground turkey soon – I had already thawed it -_- And since burgers/tacos/spaghetti/other-recipe-that-uses-ground-beef-typically required too many props I did not have (eg. buns, tortillas, pasta), I remembered something really quick and easy to make, which some may find daunting – jiaozi AKA dumplings.

Last summer I studied abroad in China, and one of the staple foods that everyone ate, could be found anywhere, and everyone seemed to know how to make since they were in the womb were jiaozi. Jiaozi are steamed, pan fried, or boiled with a traditional pork and shredded cabbage filling and served with a vinegar-soy dipping sauce on the side. The correct pronunciation by the way does NOT rhyme with title completely, but it does kind of if you say it fast, and read it like, “Gee-yao-zuh From Uh-nuh-thuh Muh-thuh.”

Dumpling Making with Students

Anyway we attended some classes at Jiangnan University in Wuxi, an hour outside of Shanghai, and one day was purely a cultural lecture. And given we were on the trip under a functional food grant, there was food to be had! Hands on learning at its finest: the first time we were given the wrappers and the filling pre-made by other students, and they just taught us how to wrap them – shaped like suns, moons, “wontons”, triangles, coins, and the traditional dumpling shape served at most restaurants. Rumor had it that the more folds you could fold on a jiaozi, the more marketable you are for marriage! (I can do 8 – 10 folds D:) The second time we made the filling ourselves, and from there I wanted to go pro! Okay, not really, but I became a little obsessed with making them when I got back to the States. Also another life-changing decision occurred after returning from China – I wanted to attend graduate school for Food Science.

Back to the present! I had a lot of turkey, no wrappers, and an indecisive mind for the filling, so I made three different fillings and my own wrappers. Note: recently, three-way (fill in food item here) have been trending in our kitchen, so don’t be surprised if Microchip also posts a three way (She prefers the term (fill in food item here) roulette, though).

Wrapper (makes 12-16)

• 1 cup of flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup of water

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Slowly add the cup of water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing with a spoon/hand until a soft, NOT sticky, dough starts to form. You do not need to add all the water. Knead dough into a smooth ball, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. Roll the dough out into a coil about ½ inch thick and cut it into 12-16 pieces. Form each piece into a ball and use a rolling pin to roll it into a round shape about 3 inches in diameter. If not using immediately, use squares of wax or freezer paper to separate the wrappers.

I doubled this wrapper recipe to use all of the filling below by the way.

Filling I (Asian inspired)

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1 cup kale leaves (stems removed, roughly chopped)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• ¼ cup diced onions
• 2 tsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• ½ tsp of sesame oil
• salt&pepper

Filling II (Tex-Mex inspired) #ingredientroulettefulfilled

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp cumin
• 1/3 cup of shredded monterey jack cheese
• ¼ cup diced tomatoes
• salt&pepper

Filling III (Indian inspired)

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1/3 cup boiled potatoes (diced)
• ½ tsp minced garlic
• 1/3 cup diced onions
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp asafoetida
• 1 tsp cumin
• salt&pepper

For all the fillings, just mix the respective ingredients together in a separate bowls per filling. You can make up your own, too! That’s the best part!

Folding:

I don’t know how to explain this well in words, and I didn’t shoot a video. I also don’t think I’m an expert at folding jiaozi. But here’s the idea: In the middle of one wrapper, place about a teaspoon or two teaspoons of filling in the middle. Fold the wrapper over, thus creating a half moon shape, and pinch the dough at the apex (the middle of the semi-circle). From each side you can start folding inwards creating a fan like shape. Start with one or two folds per side.

Other shaped dumplings you can make – place filling in the center of the wrapper. Gather the excess wrapper, creating a knapsack shape (like one you would attach to stick if you were running away from home when you were six) and pinch at the top.

Empanada shape – Fold over half -moon style and use a fork to create the creases along the semi-circle edge.

There are so many ways to folding the dumpling, so have fun!!

Cooking Method: I fried/steamed mine which resulted in the pot sticker effect.

1. Heat a pan to medium heat and add enough oil to just cover the bottom of the pan.
2. Sit the jiaozi in the pan with the skirt and bump side touching the oil (these are made up terms – see photo for details).
3. After the edge starts to brown, grab the lid, add a 1/3 cup of water (depending on the size of the pan – mine is a 9 inch skillet) and close the lid quickly – so not to burn yourself.
4. Keep the lid on, and continue cooking until the noise/steam dies down, about 3-4 minutes, and remove them from the pan. (They might stick to the pan, hence pot stickers, but you can use a spatula to ease them off without breaking the dumpling.)

I’m thinking about Italian inspired next time with a pesto or marinara dipping sauce! Wait, isn’t that called ravioli?!

❤ The Food Scientist

Got Goat?

Last month I was at a conference, the IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) Annual Meeting – my first one, might I add – and it was probably one of the most overwhelming yet fulfilling (literally filling because of all the food samples which exhibited new products or ingredients taking the world by storm) experiences of the food science realm so far. Imagine being Charlie, going on Willy Wonka’s Factory Tour, where the tour covered an area one mile long by half of a mile wide, with gastronomic innovation, professionals, and science everywhere you glanced (versus just candy). It’s no wonder photos are not “allowed” inside the exhibit area – you’d have to come experience it for yourself!

On the last day of the conference I attended a presentation about the miracle berry. Ever heard of it? The miracle berry originated from Africa and contains a protein – miraculin that essentially renders your bitter/sour taste buds inert for a certain amount of time leaving your sweet buds at work! We were instructed to take this pill that melted on your tongue to release the miraculin on the tongue, and then…suck on a lemon. Now that might not seem too crazy, especially if you like lemons, but I absolutely despise the taste of just lemon. My strength of dislike for it is so strong that I will send back my water at restaurants if there is a lemon in it; Yes, I could remove the lemon from my water, but the flavor is so potent. Anyway there I was, sucking on a lemon slice. It tasted like lemonade. How wild?! At the end of the presentation we were given a list of other items to taste while under the miraculin spell as well as sample tablets to take home. First thing I thought of – date night!

So a couple of nights ago, I had the chance to spend some time with my boyfriend #LDRlife, and I said, “Babe! We have got to try this! It’ll be fun!” Later that day we went grocery shopping to get some of the stuff on the list to try – dark stout (supposed to taste like chocolate milk), hot sauce, pickles (I hate pickles >.<), a variety of fruits and vegetables, goat cheese, and a few other things. By the time we got back from this party and after the Judd Apatow movie marathon…we were too sleepy to get into it. That’s how I ended up with goat cheese.

I’ve never used goat cheese before. I always thought it would be too…gamey. But after trying this out, I really like it! It has a mild flavor (at least the kind I have) and works well with other savory foods as well as complementing sweet/tart flavors.

Goat Cheese Tartlets Three Ways (makes about 12 tartlets)

Crust (adapted from foododelmundo.com)

• 1 cup + 2 tbsp flour (sifted)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup butter (cold)
• 5 tbsp milk

1. Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Cut butter into cubes and using an electric beater, and cut the butter into the flour mixture until there are pea-sized pieces of butter or smaller.
2. Add the milk, one tablespoon at a time, fully incorporating it into the flour. (Note – pie crusts do not appear “sticky” like cookie dough.) Use your hands to gently mix the dough in the bowl. At this point if the butter is beginning to melt, place the dough into the fridge for an hour – this will maintain the buttery flaky goodness of pie crusts!
3. Place the dough on a heavily floured surface and use a rolling pin to flatten it out ~ ¼ of an inch thick. Since we are making tartlets, I used a round cookie cutter (or cup rim) slightly larger than your pan to form the crusts. Before placing crusts in the pan, make sure to grease them first.
4. Before baking I would advise you to poke some holes with a fork to prevent the crust form puffing up. Depending on what you’re making you can bake this crust ahead of time – for fillings that are already edible or only need to “melt,” no real cooking time necessary. For that I would estimate about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees F or until light brown.

Custard

• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp half & half

Simply whip these two ingredients together in a bowl.

Spinach & Caramelized Onion

• goat cheese
• spinach (chopped)
• caramelized onions
• parmesan

 

Tomato & Basil

• goat cheese
• tomatoes (sliced or diced)
• dried basil
• dried parsley
• parmesan

Apple & Honey

• goat cheese
• apples (sliced)
• crushed almonds
• honey

 

This part is pretty simple and flexible – which I love! Basically I started with the base as some goat cheese (I have the crumbled kind), and then layered the other toppings on top. Any of the spices condiments or spices I would layer last and sprinkle them on top. But you can do whatever works for you! Once your toppings are stacked, spoon on top about 1 tsbp of the custard mixture into each tartlet. Bake these at 350 degrees F for 20 – 25 minutes, making sure the custard is cooked through!

Feel free to share your own filling ideas!

❤ The Food Scientist

Short, Sweet, and Stickyy

Perhaps you have noticed μchip has been desperately attempting to rid herself of 30+ mangoes. Even though this is a late post, as of today, we still have mangoes coming out of our ears. At this point when I made this recipe, she had made almost every and any-thing “sweet” out of mangoes – see her posts below. On the other hand, I wanted something savory that still used mangoes and wasn’t a salad (maybe one day I will go into my salad talk). And if you have been following the blog, you will see I have mentioned my healthy obsession with wings. I wanted to try creating a “fried” chicken wing mouth feel without having to deep fry them, so I found a couple different methods online that bakes “fried” chicken and developed my own idea.

Baked “Fried” Wings I

• 10 wings
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• ½ cup flour
• Baking spray

Skipping straight to the part where the drum and flat are separated (in my case 10 wings total), I tossed them in a bowl with the oil, salt, and pepper until coated. Then I tossed them in a separate bowl of just flour. Shaking off excess flour, I laid them down in one layer on a greased cookie sheet skin side up. Spraying the tops with baking spray, bake them for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F or until crisp and golden brown, turning them half way through.

Sticky Mango Chipotle Sauce

• 1.5 mango – sliced and pitted
• 1/4 cup chipotle sauce
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste

Basically I just put all of the ingredients except the honey in a blender until smooth. I then heated the mixture with the honey in a saucepan until the sugars started to bubble. Using a large bowl, I tossed the wings in the sauce straight from the pan and placed them back in the oven at 350 degrees F for 2-3 minutes allowing the wings to become sticky on the outside.

Still licking my fingers clean (and now needing to wipe my keyboard)

❤ The Food Scientist

¿Quieres bailar? Cause it’s Salsa Time!

Happy 4th, everyone! Even though it’s Independence Day, I decided to stop being a rebel and actually participate in the ingredient challenge. Our instructions were to include 2 of the following: Chicken, Lemon, Black Beans, and Spinach.

If you’ve been keeping up with my other posts, you’ll know that our mango tree has been quite fruitful this year. I’m home again for the holiday, and I went outside earlier to discover that our 2nd tree is starting to bear fruit. Check it out:

I got a little tired of making mango desserts, so I wanted to try my hand at something more savory. I was debating between mango chutney and mango salsa, but ended up going with the latter because of the ingredients I already had on hand. This recipe is a mix of sweet and salty, with just a hint of spiciness. It’s also insanely simple and should take no more than 10 minutes to make.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of canned black beans
• 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• 1 large mango, diced
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 lime
• Half of a small lemon

Start by draining and rinsing the black beans. Measure out 1 cup and put them into a medium bowl.

Next, dice your red onion and measure out 1/4 cup.

After that’s done, roughly chop up your cilantro and add both the cilantro and the onion into the bowl with black beans. Doesn’t it look pretty already? I love how the colors look when they’re blended together.

Afterwards, dice up your mango into small chunks. Add in the seasonings and squeeze your citrus juice over the bowl, making sure not to drop any lemon seeds into the bowl. Mix it all together, then you’re done!

The best part about this is that it can be used as an appetizer, side, or even as a topping for chicken breast! You can also change up some of the seasonings, based on your taste.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Hope you’re all enjoying the fireworks tonight! 🙂

– Chef μChip

Oh Lolli-lolli-lolli…

LOLLLIPOP! Bah dum bum bummm. Dude! You’re getting a Del-iciously-sweet-cand…Chicken lollipop? Yes, chicken lollipops. What is it? Well, if we deconstruct its name, it is essentially a lollipop shaped piece of chicken – derived from the ever-so-popular chicken wing.

Earlier this summer I traveled back to the homeland (the Philippines), and rediscovered the appetizer/entrée that is the chicken lollipop. Over there they can be sold on the streets out of a food cart – attached to a bicycle – or in restaurants – which is more costly probably because you are paying for the atmosphere and the cleanliness of preparation. Although I was not personally deterred from them because of that [I LOVE (trying) STREET FOOD IN ALL COUNTRIES!], I became a little obsessed with them because of the presentation compared to wing-wings, plus the whole “Filipino-esque” food that it is, and from there…my mind went a million directions.

Note – you may notice later my obsession with normal chicken wings…and the billions of ideas of sauces I have for them.

Anywho, I HAD TO FIGURE OUT how to make them. Obviously googling technique – I think the best one is at this website (http://panlasangpinoy.com/2010/02/22/quick-easy-chicken-lollipop-recipe/). The video is user friendly! I will try to explain here though, too.

Basically whole wings were cheap the other day, and I bought a lot, portioned 5 into smaller bags (til you run out), and freeze them. You can then thaw them out as you need them, and you will end up with 10 wings each time. (You can tell the majority if not all of my recipes are meant for single or two servings – #datcollegelifestyledoe)

A chicken wing has three parts: the drum, the wing, and the tip. The tip is typically chopped off and discarded or used to make stock later. And you are left with the drum and the wing (or flat) which is what you see at most restaurants. They will be joined by an outside skin and what looks like a ball-and-socket joint. Take a knife and slice the outer skin (as if splitting in half) where the joint is (Please see photo). From there you can apply some pressure to allow the joint to split and slice the rest of the skin around the joint, leaving two pieces – the drum and the flat. I know, I know, there is a lot of wording/technique here, but the video should help a lot! From there the meat on the bone is pushed to one end of the bone forming a “lollipop.”

At this point, I took the reins, and liberally salted, peppered, and garlic-ked the lollies, and then did the important three-step breading – flour, egg wash, panko. This is where my little secret comes in; I actually like to bake these first, and then fry them up later for the crunchy, juicy mouth feel we all know and love! The lollipops were baked erect in a 375 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes -the baking ensures the cooking of the chicken.
As for the frying, I actually do not deep fry my wings – I shallow pan fry them, but on two sides. I’m sure deep frying would work as well, but I try not to use so much oil. Anyway fry until golden brown!

Now you can eat them as is, with rice, or…you can buff them – aka toss them in a sauce (not necessarily buffalo, but it seems to be the common term). For this set of lollies, I was inspired by my recent trip to New Orleans, and the finger-lickin’, bread-soppin’, shell suckin’ charbroiled oysters at the Acme Oyster House on Iberville in the Quarter. Charbroiled oysters are fresh oysters from the Gulf, shucked, and charbroiled with a secret butter garlic sauce and romano/parmesan cheeses. They are served sizzlin’ hot, open faced with extra butter sauce, with slices of crusty French bread for dipping…okay, okay, I’ll stop drooling now and explain that I basically threw together my own herbed butter sauce to toss the hot lollipops.

Herbed Butter Garlic Sauce

• ¼ stick of butter (unsalted and melted)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• ½ tsp basil
• ½ tsp parsley
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• Splash of lemon juice
• 1/8 cup pf grated parmesan cheese (fresher the better)

Easily enough – combine all of the above ingredients, and toss the cooked lollies in the sauce (while hot). Before serving, I sprinkled a little extra parmesan cheese on top which melts upon the hot melted butter.

As they say in NOLA, Laissez les bons temps rouler! (Let the good times roll!)

❤ The Food Scientist

Quickie with a Fungi

Looking for a quickie with a fun-guy?? How about a fungi? It’s my first time publishing a post, and I have been trying to look for an ‘edge’ or ‘style,’ or ‘voice’ that distinguishes me from the other posters (Yes, I realize your username is posted every time, but still…) As I develop that…let me share what’s up with this post.

So something we are doing different this year, among other things, such as adding new people to the blog, we are using a random ingredient generator which provides four ingredients to use in a recipe, but you only need to use two in it. This set of ingredients are set for two weeks, and then we generate four more again, etc. This week’s generated ingredients are: mushrooms, cream cheese, red bell peppers, and onions! When I read those ingredients over our text group (essentially), I immediately thought of a Philly cheese steak with a spin –the cream cheese and red bell pep. Thinking that other bloggers would do that, I ventured off into another direction…what I had in the fridge, what was going bad, and what had to be eaten before I left for New Orleans this weekend.

Long story short…I made stuffed mushrooms in about 10 minutes or less, not including the baking time, hence Quickie with a Fungi! Using whole button mushrooms, I rubbed the dirt off using a wet paper towel and removed the stems. After heating up some oil, I tossed in the aromatics (chopped onions and garlic), and chopped mushroom stems and bell peppers. I let that saute for a few minutes, and threw in chopped spinach and sliced pepperoni. As all of those flavors meshed together, I creamed together from cream cheese and shredded asiago cheese in a separate bowl. Once everything was heated, I added the cooked mixture to the cheese mixture, plus basil, parsley, S&P (salt and pepper). I then filled the mushroom caps with the stuffing and baked them on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes. And…voila!

**Note the cream cheese was at room temperature, and I preheated the oven prior to cooking on the stove 🙂

If you’re curious about the “long” story, which none of you probably are, I was inspired by the first time my boyfriend came over for dinner with my family, and I’m sure all of you have nice memories or horror stories of something similar…

If you are going to try making this, #YOLO it. You probably noticed that there are no proportions in this post, why? Maybe that’s my edge, no proportions, just right. I think that’s partially the Outback slogan or Nike or a strange combination of both, but really I just don’t measure when I cook, I just feel it.

 

❤ The Food Scientist